A leadership lesson from Matsushita

A leadership lesson from Matsushita

Matsushita Leadership: Lesson from The 20th Century's Most
Remarkable Entrepreneur

By John P. Kotter

The Free Press, New York, 1997

302 pages, including notes and index

Rp 48,000

JAKARTA (JP): Are leaders born or can someone be trained to
lead? John P. Kotter, a professor of leadership from Harvard
Business School, stands in the latter camp of thought. His
premise explains the title's homage to the Japanese entrepreneur.

It is a biography but not in the conventional sense. As a
management educator and not a historian, Kotter uses Konosuke
Matushita's long list of achievements as instructional tools.

He explores why Matsushita's legacy is unusual compared to
managers anywhere, including those in Japan, and how might the
lessons of his life be used effectively around the globe in the
next century.

Matsushita did not fit the stereotyped striking figure of a
leader. Early photographs show an unsmiling young man with jug
ears. He was of medium height and thin all his life. Unlike his
rival Akio Morita at Sony, he was neither charismatically
handsome nor internationally recognized. He didn't excel at
public speaking, a prerequisite for success in Western countries,
and his voice grew increasingly frail. He rarely displayed
lightning-quick intellectual skills.

Nevertheless, he did what all great leaders do by motivating
others to improve the human condition. His accomplishments are
astonishing and outshine even Soichiro Honda, J.C. Penny, Sam
Walton and Henry Ford.

The major theme running throughout his life is the unending
pursuit of growth. Young Matsushita was not highly educated,
rich, charismatic or well connected, but he used innovative
management and marketing practices to build a gigantic
corporation, Matsushita Electric Corporation, often known as
Japan's General Electric.

After his official retirement, Matsushita did not spend his
time idly but took on new challenges that went far beyond the
usual domain of business. He became an author, philanthropist,
educator and a philosopher of sorts.

Almost all of his last two decades were oriented to helping
others learn the biggest lessons that he drew from his own life:
the poorest can succeed through perseverance; life's difficulties
are opportunities to learn; one can be reborn stronger from
failure; success can stop personal development if it leads to
arrogance and risk aversion; a willingness to humbly and honestly
assess your actions is at the heart of personal development. He
wrote to educate people. He gave money to support educational
missions.

Actions that facilitated his development were simple but
powerful. Again and again, he pushed himself and others out of
comfortable routines, took risks, reflected humbly on successes
and failures, listened carefully, viewed life with an open mind
and tried to draw from the collective wisdom of others. These
habits were supported by vast and humanistic goals, ambitions
which evolved from regaining family wealth into becoming a
successful entrepreneur, then expanding a company, then creating
a prosperous nation through that company, then helping to build a
wealthy and peaceful world.

Those habits were also fostered by his beliefs. His first was
that things could only get better. Eventually, he developed an
idealistic philosophy which said that risk taking, openness,
listening and humility were all rational actions.

His idealistic-humanistic goals and beliefs also touched
politics. After disastrous World War Two, Matsushita became
increasingly concerned with member of the government, viewing
them as too short-term oriented in their thinking, too willing to
abandon principles for an expedient result. Many were corrupt.
Most of all, few were real leaders.

He initially tried to reform politics by funding or backing
specific candidates. This strategy had little impact, mostly
because he could find few visionary leaders seeking elected
office. He adopted a long-term strategy through education. At age
85, he founded the Matsushita Institute of Government and
Management with the stated goal to develop and promote leadership
in government and politics for the 21st century.

Lessons from his own life shaped the basic concept of the
school. Hardships can be very useful, he said again and again,
for building character, forging motivation and forcing honest
self-assessment. Students would live in modest surroundings, work
hard and be asked to devise much of their own curriculum.

As a philosopher, Matsushita developed his body of thought
through the Peace and Happiness through Prosperity Institute. The
core of this is; human beings are by nature basically good and
responsible; the human race has demonstrated a capacity for
growing and progressing, both materially and spiritually; humans
have the power of choice; we have the capacity to bring material
and intellectual resources to bear on the difficult problems
facing the world, and solving difficult problems requires, above
all, an open mind and the willingness to learn.

The second question explored in the book is how to effectively
use the lessons of his life. Continuing globalization of the
economy, competition and change will make life challenging for
thousands of businesses and billions of people. If current trends
continue, the success stories of the next few decades will not be
about standard educations and careers. Winners will be those
willing and able to grow throughout their lifetimes.

Matsushita's most basic and potentially most powerful ideas
are about the roots of lifelong learning. Privilege, degrees and
a winning personality are all fine, but one can learn from any
experience and at any age with an open heart and mind. With
humanistic ideals, one can conquer success and failure, learn
from both, and continue to grow. His extraordinary life stands as
powerful testimony to these propositions.

This book is highly recommended for the leaders of the future,
as well as all readers concerned with leadership issues. Its
easily readable format makes this book a valuable contribution to
anyone interested in leadership.

-- Djohan Pinnarwan

The reviewer is professional staff at the public accountant
firm Hadi Susanto & Partner (Price Waterhouse), Jakarta.